Let's speculate on future SC behaviour

[gremcint]

there is actually a law here that states you cannot spend more than 26 cents in pennies.

[sms001]

6. "Don't you have any gum or ANYTHING that costs 1¢? If I'm payin' it, I wants sumpin!!!"

[RealUnimportant]

1. lie about having pennies when the total is ending in 1 or 2

If it's anything like Australia & New Zealand's system, them having or not having pennies won't matter as they'll no longer be legal currency anyway.

Surprised the hell out of me the first transaction I made, but after that it was second nature - they don't have anything smaller than 10¢ iirc.

[taurinejunkie]

An interesting bit of info: the cost of production of a Canadian $0.01 coin is more than its face value.

I'm probably going to round up every penny I can find and get them changed at a CoinStar.

Oh, wait, that would make sense. Silly me.

[PepperElf]

FAQ on the Canadian Penny
Pretty good reference for what the new rules are


My own take on what will happen

a - people like me will keep what we have cos we're geeks who collect odd things like that. (i still have an old Irish penny and the old sized Dirham from the UAE)

b - some people will use debit / credit to save a penny or two on the .03 and .04 transactions cos the cards are charged to the penny.

c - people WILL try to empty out the penny jars but... the Currency Act limits that to 25 cents worth of pennies per transaction. So there will be some screaming there I think.

d - it will all be the cashier's fault. according to some at least.

[brucetiki]

Australia went through this 20 years ago. I don't remember sighting any SC have a complain at the time but I wasn't working retail then.
The joke at the time was the person driving up to the petrol pump putting in 2 cents of fuel and getting it rounded down to nothing. They then go back to the pump put in another 2 cents and get it rounded down. They keep going to they throw you out of the place but they get free petrol. Even at the prices twenty years ago it still amounted to very little fuel for a lot of effort.

Parodied brilliantly in this Full Frontal sketch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVPHfN0ETUw

[Skelly]

Australia went through this 20 years ago. I don't remember sighting any SC have a complain at the time but I wasn't working retail then.
The joke at the time was the person driving up to the petrol pump putting in 2 cents of fuel and getting it rounded down to nothing. They then go back to the pump put in another 2 cents and get it rounded down. They keep going to they throw you out of the place but they get free petrol. Even at the prices twenty years ago it still amounted to very little fuel for a lot of effort.

Some people will do this to...win? Stick it to "the man"? Beat the system? Not quite sure which applies...

[dalesys]

Wait. You realize this means Canada will be broke?



They'll be penniless.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Wait. You realize this means Canada will be broke?



They'll be penniless.

Somehow, they will find enough money to continue buying pants.

[TopEndDave]

If it's anything like Australia & New Zealand's system, them having or not having pennies won't matter as they'll no longer be legal currency anyway.

Surprised the hell out of me the first transaction I made, but after that it was second nature - they don't have anything smaller than 10¢ iirc.

Australia still has a 5 cent coin. Last year the mint announced that it was costing more than 5 cents to make the coin. There was a lot of speculation that the coin was going to be dropped but the government decided to keep it for now.

It is not just the cost of production but how the coin circulates that determines if it still required. A lot of small stores set their prices to be multiples of 10 cents to avoid having to keep 5 cent coins in the till.

[MoonCat]

Also people on the border will pass them off in the US to get rid of them.

Oh, that is so going to happen here...

[PepperElf]

Oh, that is so going to happen here...

That already happens. Border states really have to keep an eye on it as it is.

so yeah... i can imagine it will get worse.

[EmilyRose1982]

I can envision an SC flipping out because, "well, I haven't heard about it!!! You're lying!"

There's always at least a couple SCs that are completely sheltered from anything resembling news and current events.

When I worked as a bank teller, many times SCs would demand I trade Canadian coin for American. After telling them no, we can't exchange coin (no one does), and explaining that we can't because there's no way to check for authenticity--we had a big book with pictures and descriptions of every paper currency in the world--one SC asked me who does take Canadian coin. I looked him dead in the eye and said, "Canada." I was the hero of my coworkers that day.

[PepperElf]

there's a couple of convenience stores where Mom lives that will accept Canadian coins at face value - meaning if your bill is 1.05 and you give them a dollar and a Canadian nickel they'll accept it as fully paid.

The problem is... they also give out Canadian change the same way. So you have to be careful and check your money. Mom refuses to accept it - especially quarters - cos she can't use them in the laundry machine.

[RealUnimportant]

There's always at least a couple SCs that are completely sheltered from anything resembling news and current events.

This isn't an SC but a friend; for the past month there's been news stories in the UK about how we're actually in a drought due to seriously reduced rain/snowfall this winter.

On April 1st, my friend asked on Facebook if there was a hosepipe ban coming into force in his area. I confirmed his suspicion, to which he replied "like I'm going to believe that today, haha I'm no fool." I immediately pulled up half a dozen official news sources & stated "I may be good at pranks, but even I have my limits; there's no way I could have faked all these brand-name reports in just 3 minutes..." He felt suitably chastised & realised he'd essentially fooled himself.

I was kind though, and haven't posted the whole conversation on Failbook - yet